FDA authorizes group Covid-19 testing

The Food and Drug Administration has granted the first emergency use authorization for pooled coronavirus testing for Covid-19.

The approach involves combining samples from multiple people, which are only tested individually if the batch comes back positive.

The FDA said that Quest Diagnostics will now be able to group up to four samples together. This is aimed at easing the current testing crunch driven by the spike in new infections.

What it means: Pooled testing isn't a silver bullet — for instance, it's not appropriate for communities where outbreaks are widespread, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement.

But in areas where the prevalence of the virus is low, pooled testing can reduce consumption of scarce testing resources on people who are not likely to be infected but need to be screened before they can return to work or school.